Bloodville Series 1: The Vampire And The Ghost
by shadowglove
Summary: When Henry moved to Metropolis to get away from the whole Vicki/Mike situation after season two, he never thought his house would be haunted by an unwelcoming ghost...so he asks a friend to call in a specialist...thus Chloe Sullivan entered his life.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville/Blood Ties.**

Post Season 2 Blood Ties.

Written for my Paranormal25 150 Prompt Table. Prompt 47: Reciprocal Apparition.

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"So _you're_ the new 'Lord' of Metropolis." She announced with an unimpressed snort. "You would have thought that if you made the monumental decision to change territories you would have put more thought into where you'd be living."

Henry Fitzroy blinked in surprise at the snarky blonde in his doorway. "I hadn't thought that the house would be _occupied_."

"Thus the 'put more thought' comment." She replied, entering his home without his permission and looking around it at the many cardboard boxers, most opened and yet unpacked. "I don't think I blame him for throwing your stuff around." The blonde smirked. "Your taste in art kinda sucks."

At this moment Henry Fitzroy really didn't know how to react to her. When he'd realized that his home was haunted, he'd asked a friend who he knew could help him with the problem, and he'd been given one name.

Chloe Sullivan.

He'd been told that "Chloe Sullivan" was trustworthy, good at her job, and had twenty-five years experience under her belt.

The girl looked barely twenty.

"Him?" Henry decided to pick up on that word. "You can tell just by walking into the house that the spirit' s a male?"

"No." Chloe shook her head. "I can tell by _looking_ at him." She motioned behind him. "He's right over there."

Henry turned, eyes wide in surprise, seeing the ghost manifest itself for the first time since his arrival. It was a young male, relatively good looking, with bronze-colored, hair and tanned skin.

Or, well, he had a hint of those colorings, since he was mostly see-through.

"_Hello_." Chloe smiled a warm and welcoming smile as she walked passed Henry, completely ignoring him, and held out her hand, palm upwards, towards the ghost. "I am Chloe Sullivan, who might you be?"

The ghost seemed surprised at this before resting his translucent hand on hers, palms touching, in as close as a handshake one could have with an immaterial being. "I am Rudy Jenner, I live here."

Henry leaned against the wall, somewhat shocked yet intrigued with how this was playing out.

"Did you live here while you were alive as well or did you drift and find this place?" Chloe asked, motioning towards the living room (still filled with cardboard boxes), sitting down on a chair while the ghost sat on the sofa.

"I drifted." Rudy answered slowly, sitting down and looking at her. "Why?"

"Well, it means you really don't have any claim to this place, Rudy." She responded with a sigh. "Mr. Fitzroy here bought the place with his money and his name is on the deed. Even in the immaterial world, if you had no claim on the location prior to death you are just considered a _squatter._"

This visibly upset the ghost, as he fidgeted on the sofa. "But I was here first! It was abandoned until I found it. This has been my home for years!"

"I know that Rudy, and believe me, I feel for you. It's got to be horrible, being trapped in this plane without any place to call your own." She spoke sympathetically, leaning forwards as she rested her elbows against her knees. "But you can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" The ghost narrowed his eyes at her.

"Throwing Mr. Fitzroy's things around, acting like a _poltergeist_." Her face went serious. "Because if you continue acting like a poltergeist, you will soon become one, and I can't do anything to help you anymore. Actually, I'd have to exorcise you from the house myself, and _then_ you'd be forced out into the cold and black again."

The ghost stood.

So did Chloe, not backing down and yet not intimidating either. "Understand, I don't want to do that, but I'll only do it if _you_ force me to, Rudy."

The ghost flickered and disappeared.

Henry frowned, pushing away from the wall. "What now?"

"We wait." Chloe responded with a sigh, turning to him and running her hand over her hair. "He needs some time to think things through."

The vampire paused, looking her over, before motioning towards the kitchen. "Would you like some tea?"

She nodded, following him into the kitchen and looking around. "I can see why he got so attached to the place. It's very beautiful." The blonde rested back against the counter, continuing to admire the large kitchen. "I had got to choose where to spend the rest of eternity, this place really isn't that bad a choice."

Henry smiled, amused by this woman, as he went to boil water for her tea.

After the situation with Vicky and Celluci, he'd needed to get away, get _far_ away, and he'd promised himself never to get close to another human being again…and yet this one was intriguing enough to make him question keeping his own word to himself.

"You know, I never would have thought that vampires would have actual edible things in their kitchen." She replied, going to the fridge and opening it. "Not a _lot_, I'll give you that, but there's still human food."

"My editor comes around sometimes. Plus, it helps keep up appearances." He didn't want to say that since Vicki had nearly _lived_ in his home he'd gotten used to having food around for her.

"Makes sense." Chloe responded, closing the door and turning around to him. "So let me get this straight, Happy said you were a cartoonist?" She smirked. "That's not an occupation I'd imagined a vampire would choose."

"Graphic _artist_." He corrected. "And _whatever_ you do---I wouldn't peg a young girl like you to be doing something like that either."

"Young girl?" She snorted, looking at him as if he were crazy. "I'm forty four."

Henry froze, looking her over. "What are you?" She barely could pass for twenty, and that was only due to her overly serious attitude.

"You mean Happy didn't give you the details? About me?" She suddenly smirked. "Go _Happy_. I kinda like him more now." Fishing in his drawers, Chloe pulled out a spoon and returned to the fridge, pulling out a strawberry/banana yogurt and began to eat it. "I'm Meta."

"Meta?" Henry asked.

He'd lived long, and come up against a lot of things, but had ever come across anything called _that_ before.

"Well, it's not surprising you don't know what I'm talking about, we're a relatively new and young species." She replied, running her tongue over her spoon thoughtfully. "I guess you could call us mutants or enhanced humans, or something that like that."

"Mutants." Henry blinked, completely intrigued. "Like Wolverine?"

"_Figures_ you'd find some association with a comic book character." Chloe snorted, finishing the yogurt and dumping the container into one of the few empty cardboard boxes and going to the sink, washing the spoon off.

Henry ignored the snub. "So all metas have a longer lifespan?"

"Nope. I drew the lucky lotto card in that department." She replied with a snarky tone of voice as she put the spoon in the dish drain and turned to look at him. "I'm the only one I know who ages so slowly…or…maybe doesn't age at all…I'm still not sure. If in twenty more years I _still_ don't look older I'll have my answer."

He found it both intriguing and fascinating…and _amusing_ how she was handling the situation that would have made anyone else freak out.

Then again, she was forty something, she'd had a couple of years to get used to it.

"Look, Happy told me how you don't like magic or anything like that." She changed the subject rapidly. "But I'm going to warn you from now that if Rudy doesn't decide to either behave or find a different place, I'm going to have to do a couple of things here that could very well go against your beliefs."

He stiffened, knowing this, but having been happy to play ignorant for as long as he could. "I know."

"If he decided to stay here, would that bother you?" Chloe wanted to know as she reached behind her and pulled herself up so that she was sitting on the surface of the counter, swinging her legs. "Would a vampire mind having a ghost for a housemate?"

"If he doesn't throw my things around and behaves in a polite, civilized manner I wouldn't particularly mind him." Henry sighed.

"The Vampire and the Ghost." Chloe smirked. "Sounds like a trashy paranormal porn book in the making."

Henry chuckled, finding this blonde quite _odd_.

There was a flickering to Henry's right. "Do you really mean it?"

They turned to see Rudy standing there, looking at Henry. "Can I really stay?"

Chloe smirked.

Obviously she'd realized they were being watched.

She was _good_.

Henry cleared his throat and nodded. "It might even be beneficial to me."

"How so?" The ghost asked, curious, not hostile like he'd once been.

"During the day I…lets just say it would be nice to have someone _trustworthy_ guarding the home and all within during the day." The vampire replied. "As long as we can maintain mutual respect and trust I do not see how this cannot work."

Rudy grinned. "Okay." He outstretched his hand, palm downwards.

It took Henry a second for him to realize what Rudy wanted. The vampire stretched out his hand and rested it underneath the ghost's, palm upwards.

Chloe grinned as she jumped off of the counter and brought her hands beneath his and above Rudy's, enclosing their hands. "Pact made."

So close…

Henry sniffed.

She smelt so _good_.

And then she let go and was moving away, back towards the front entrance.

Rudy, seeming just as intrigued with her as Henry, quickly followed behind.

Henry followed as well.

"I'm glad we could work this out so amicably." She smiled, opening the door. "Now, I'll be back in a couple of days to see how the two of you are getting along together, okay?"

Rudy nodded.

So did Henry. "How much do I owe you?"

She snorted. "For the 'Lord' of Metropolis? It's on the house."

He was surprised. "But…"

She held up her hand. "I ate your yogurt. It was good yoghurt. Let's leave it at that."

"Okay." He was shocked, chuckling as he shook his head. "See you in a couple of days, Miss Sullivan."

In which, if he and Rudy managed to get along, he'd have a thank you gift waiting for her.

She smiled at them both before leaving, closing the door.

"She's pretty…" Rudy confided as soon as the door.

"We're already agreeing on something." Henry smiled at the apparition before turning to his boxes. "And since we're established that you can move things, you just got voted to help me unpack."

Rudy mumbled something under his breath before he went to the first box and began to open it, eyes widening in fascination at the various things he found there.

Henry watched him in amusement before chuckling and doing the same.

This move was going to be good for him.

His gaze went to the door once more.

He could just _tell_.

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**Review?**


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